Doom Side of the Moon is obviously a reference to Pink Floyd’s legendary "Dark Side of the Moon" opus, and, as the name suggests, it is a doom metal tribute to the prog rock masterpiece. Actually, it is more akin to stoner rock than doom metal, to be perfectly honest with you, but let us overlook that minor detail for now. Spearheaded by The Sword’s Kyle Shutt, Doom Side of the Moon deconstructs "Dark Side of the Moon" and translates it into an ecclectic mix of stoner rock, doom metal, psychedelic rock, and experimental music.

 

Granted, none of the renditions that make up "Doom Side of the Moon" encompass or contain the same emotional intensity and strange fragility as the original compositions do, but at least they offer a different take on a number of classic cuts that have been covered to death by other artists. The thing is that Doom Side of the Moon stay relatively close to the originals to some extent, but while listening to this I often found myself thinking that it would be even more awesome if they went all-out experimental and pushed everything further and made the whole thing even sludgier and perhaps drenched it in even more feedback and so on, but I can kind of understand why they would also try to remain as true to the originals as possible. That is a tough balance right there, but "Doom Side of the Moon" offers an interesting take on an old classic and it is definitely an entertaining release to immerse oneself in. It is neither flat-out brilliant nor does it possess the cinematic quality that the original piece of work does, but as opposed to trying to capture the essence of "Dark Side of the Moon", Kyle Shutt’s ensemble have at least managed to retain the mood of the original while also making the songs their own to some extent. The versions of "Time" and "Money" are perhaps the best examples of this.

Whether you are a fan of stoner rock, desert rock, psychedelia, Pink Floyd, or The Sword, you ought to check "Doom Side of the Moon" out. Just approach it with an open mind, okay?